Bergdahl’s hometown cancels planned welcome-back celebration

posted at 6:01 pm on June 4, 2014 by Allahpundit

Unfortunate, not because Bergdahl deserves a hero’s welcome but because it sounds like these people have been drowning in vitriol over the last few days for the crime of giving the benefit of the doubt to a hometown boy. (“(We’re) really surprised at the people who are calling — they are hate calls, they’re not just people voicing an opinion.”) If you knew him when he was a kid, know his parents, and heard nothing about his captivity except the fact that he’s spent five years in the company of jihadi degenerates, you might want to celebrate his release too.

Not anymore, though. Go figure that, with half a dozen members of his unit on TV accusing him of desertion and rumbles of outright collaboration with the Taliban echoing in the press, the town’s suddenly less eager to brand itself with Bergdahlmania.

The hometown of U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl has canceled a rally planned for later this month celebrating his release from five years of Taliban captivity, a municipal official told Reuters on Wednesday, amid allegations that he was a deserter.

Heather Dawson, the city administrator of Hailey, Idaho, said town officials called off the June 28 event at the request of organizers because the town “will be unable to safely manage the number of people expected.”

They had planned a “Bowe Is Back” celebration for June 28th, with Carole King expected to sing and up to 15,000 people attending, including thousands of bikers from Boise’s POW/MIA group. The fact that they’re now claiming they can’t “safely manage” it has less to do with the numbers they’re expecting, I assume, than the tenor of the crowd that’s likely to turn out. The first poll on the prisoner swap is out today and shows the country — surprisingly — evenly split, with 40 percent supporting the deal and 43 percent against. Imagine members of those two groups in each other’s faces in close quarters at the Idaho event, with accusations of treason being tossed around, and you can see why safety might be an issue.

By the way, it’s not just members of Bergdahl’s unit who have suspicions about him. WaPo tracked down some of the Afghans who lived in the area when Bergdahl went missing in 2009. They claim to remember him.

Locals remember Bergdahl walking through the village in a haze. They later told Afghan investigators that they had warned the American that he was heading into a dangerous area.

“They tried to tell him not to go there, that it is dangerous. But he kept going over the mountain. The villagers tried to give him water and bread, but he didn’t take it,” said Ibrahim Manikhel, the district’s intelligence chief.

“We think he probably was high after smoking hashish,” Manikhel said. “Why would an American want to find the Taliban?”

“I hope the U.S. can re-arrest the Talibs that they released,” added one of the villagers, drily. Actually, though, their account is the best (and maybe only) defense yet of Bergdahl’s desertion. As damning as it is that he was apparently hellbent on making it to Taliban territory, the fact that he seemed to be “in a haze” and was suspected of being high could be the kernel of a defense for Bergdahl to the desertion charges. “I smoked something on base that I shouldn’t have and, the next thing I knew, the Taliban was all around me,” he could say. That’s implausible given all the evidence against him that Michael Hastings noted in Rolling Stone, including e-mails sent to his father days earlier that seemed to foreshadow something dramatic, but it’s something.

Here’s Tapper latest interview with someone who knew Bergdahl — former Staff Sgt. Justin Gerleve, his squad leader. He too thinks Bergdahl deserted. Pay attention to Tapper’s question and Gerleve’s answer at around 2:00, about how much more accurate and lethal Taliban attacks on U.S. convoys became after Bergdahl disappeared. Evan Buetow, Bergdahl’s team leader on the night he went missing, also raised that point yesterday. The men who were closest to Bergdahl in Afghanistan evidently think he did more than just walk away.

Blowback

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Well, excuse me, but how do you politely say “Please don’t have a hero’s party for a guy who deserted in a time of war, collaborated with the enemy, caused the deaths of at least 8 American soldiers, and denounced his citizenship”?

Actually, though, their account is the best (and maybe only) defense yet of Bergdahl’s desertion. As damning as it is that he was apparently hellbent on making it to Taliban territory, the fact that he seemed to be “in a haze” and was suspected of being high could be the kernel of a defense for Bergdahl to the desertion charges. “I smoked something on base that I shouldn’t have and, the next thing I knew, the Taliban was all around me,” he could say.

WTF? Special Report is reporting a Fox News poll saying only 47% oppose the trade, while 45% support it.

BuckeyeSam on June 4, 2014 at 6:04 PM

Probably because people polled want to give Bergdahl the benefit of the doubt. If there’s is incontrovertible evidence(aside from the letter which we technically don’t have) showing that he deserted and then collaborated with the Taliban and the deal still has support in double digits, then I officially give up on this country.

If you knew him when he was a kid, know his parents, and heard nothing about his captivity except the fact that he’s spent five years in the company of jihadi degenerates, you might want to celebrate his release too.

Idiots. They want everyone to ignore facts and just concentrate on how nice a boy he was in fifth grade. Seesh……..

Why did they think he would be able to attend by that date? He was suppose to be on death’s door. Were they told otherwise and that he would be home in a couple of weeks? Besides his physical condition (which we know is not bad) there was his mental condition. But most importantly, his legal problems. He already split once, why let him loose again?

WTF? Special Report is reporting a Fox News poll saying only 47% oppose the trade, while 45% support it.

BuckeyeSam on June 4, 2014 at 6:04 PM

As NotCoach mentioned, this was conducted earlier on. The scandal has really only exploded in the last two days. I am expecting the next poll to look substantially different based on how the White House and its witless minions reacted.

If you knew him when he was a kid, know his parents, and heard nothing about his captivity except the fact that he’s spent five years in the company of jihadi degenerates, you might want to celebrate his release too.

Maybe not the entire town, but I’m sure there are some who picked up on his attitude. The column said his dad “was deeply dejected and walked away from cycling, vowing never to ride a bike again.” That’s a level of anger and bitterness that seeps into everything you do.

We once lived in a town where a guy who would have been on the 1980 U.S. Olympic Gymnastic Team. He was a nice guy, and instead of becoming bitter he opened his own gym.

If you knew him when he was a kid, know his parents, and heard nothing about his captivity except the fact that he’s spent five years in the company of jihadi degenerates, you might want to celebrate his release too.

My, well since you put it like that we’ll just forget also that at least six soldiers and officers are dead specifically because they were on operations trying to get his worthless ass back and that for four straight years after he was “captured” IED attacks were more frequent and deadly and raised 2 and three fold for more than four years.

Imagine no defection.
It’s easy if you try.
He was just … on vacation.
And no one really died.

Imagine members of those two groups in each other’s faces in close quarters at the Idaho event, with accusations of treason being tossed around, and you can see why safety might be an issue.

From the two pools–both of which were conducted early in the news cycle–the US is currently pretty evenly divided on this. How are you going to separate the US into two groups over this emotionally charged issue?

Bowe Bergdahl’s critics not to “judge” him until all the facts are in and sharply defended the extensive and risky search efforts that claimed the lives of some of his fellow soldiers.

“We did a huge number of operations to try to stop the Taliban from being able to move him across the border into Pakistan,” McChrystal told Yahoo News in an exclusive interview. “And we made a great effort and put a lot of people at risk in doing that, but that’s what you should do. That’s what soldiers do for each other.”

Swine generals, most all that are left, only for the next stars.

Shitseki began the decline by ordering the hard-won black berets gone. The rest is history.

As NotCoach mentioned, this was conducted earlier on. The scandal has really only exploded in the last two days. I am expecting the next poll to look substantially different based on how the White House and its witless minions reacted.

As it is, 47% is a good start.

Doomberg on June 4, 2014 at 6:24 PM

You might be right on the Fox News poll, but the Rasmussen poll was done on June 2-3, and it had the same split.

You could say that about just about anyone … except for the little Jakarta street kid who was a muslim, dog-eating, low IQ pr!ck when he was a kid.

know his parents,

You mean his Mullah Dad who went jihadi PR on the White House Lawn and wants to free all terrorists? That parent?

This story about Bergdahl started leaking out right after he deserted. It didn’t take years for people to start hearing this. People in this town should have known about the circumstances of the lowlife deserter’s disappearance from way back. They can’t claim ignorance. This town has no excuse, except that they are brain dead and seemed happy to collude with the Indonesian America-hater in his latest move to harm this nation and people.

Stefanie O’Neill, an organizer of the welcome-home rally originally set for June 28, had insisted as late as Tuesday that the celebration would go on as planned. But on Wednesday, she and her mother, Debbie, a co-organizer of the event, paid a visit to the Army sergeant’s parents, Bob and Jani Bergdahl, to ask whether they wanted the celebration to proceed as planned.

A short time later came the city’s announcement that the event was being canceled.

Or, in Obama’s Pentagon: A bogus investigation resulting in precisely nothing so as to avoid embarrassment to Army brass and the CinC.

The U.S. military has said the circumstances under which Bergdahl disappeared have yet to be fully investigated, although Pentagon officials have indicated Bergdahl is unlikely to face charges regardless of what the Army learns of his capture because he has suffered enough.[Emphasis added]

WTF? Special Report is reporting a Fox News poll saying only 47% oppose the trade, while 45% support it.

BuckeyeSam on June 4, 2014 at 6:04 PM

I’m surprised it’s already in the negative. Alot of people don’t pay attention, but when asked would favor getting our guy “released” (frankly, I think he was forced out). Meanwhile everyone who is against the deal knows the story and is likely dead set against the traitor.

Those tears he was shedding in the Taliban video were from his realization they were dumping him to Americans.The Taliban used him like a stooge then dropped him like a used condom.They got what they wanted and he has to face reality.I would bet he had no idea when the Toyota truck pulled up.

So many good soldiers died in attempts to find him and IED attacks became much more deadly after is disappearance. What difference, at this point, does it make? Hey, Hillary thought it was a good line last year. Maybe the Dems can trot out the same line now.

If you knew him when he was a kid, know his parents, and heard nothing about his captivity except the fact that he’s spent five years in the company of jihadi degenerates, you might want to celebrate his release too.

If you realized that the man you support deserted from the Army, possibly collaborated with the enemy, and killed other Americans…. well you might be less strident in the support that the bastard is back.

Not anymore, though. Go figure that, with half a dozen members of his unit on TV accusing him of desertion and rumbles of outright collaboration with the Taliban echoing in the press, the town’s suddenly less eager to brand itself with Bergdahlmania.

Seriously Allah. With multiple members of his unit coming out as strong as they have against the deserter/defector, you really think that there is a Bowe is Back celebration? Shouldn’t such events at least be postponed until some of these very consistent allegations are clarified?

Bergdahl was not captured in the heat of battle. He did not serve with honor and distinction. Far too soon to have an effing parade for some pajama boy, ballet dancing barista who thought the Army was the armed part of the Peace Corps.

He can not argue that he was incapacitated due to drugs when he voluntarily ingested them.

Blake on June 4, 2014 at 6:15 PM

Plus, Bergdahl has already gone on record about how he was “captured.”

Remember hearing the version of events where Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban when he lagged behind the rest of his unit while they were out on patrol? I was wondering yesterday where that story came from. According to Malkin’s site, that story came from Bergdahl himself, in one of the “hostage” videos he made while “captured,” in which he pleads to be released.

We now know that Bergdahl’s patrol story is false, because several of Bergdahl’s unit members have confirmed that there was no patrol on the night Bergdahl disappeared. So Bergdahl appears to have deliberately lied about the circumstances of his “capture” (which shows consciousness of guilt about his desertion). He could just as easily have said that he got stoned and wandered out of camp by accident (although that too did not happen, because according to his unit, the perimeter alarm never sounded that night), but he didn’t claim to be impaired. Bergdahl (or his lawyer) can make that claim now, but it’s going to be pretty hard to reconcile that story with the contradictory one he has already told on video.

If you knew him when he was a kid, know his parents, and heard nothing about his captivity except the fact that he’s spent five years in the company of jihadi degenerates, you might want to celebrate his release too.

I guess, in a way, it’s nice to know that there are people who go to live in remote Idaho and remain so far removed from news of the world that up to 15,000 of them would consider celebrating the deception and malice of Our Idiot President and the return of a known army deserter, simply because he was raised nearby. It’s sort of quaint.

But I’m very glad they came to their senses. They will not regret distancing from Baghdad Bob Bergdahl and his Islamic son Bowe.

‘Cuz, like, um, ya know, The Daily Beast is a right-wing Media Matters and all of us used MK-ULTRA to mind-control Hillary advisers into speaking with TDB about how HRC was against the Bergdahl4Taliban5 swap before she was for it and before she became against it again or something.

If you knew him when he was a kid, know his parents, and heard nothing about his captivity except the fact that he’s spent five years in the company of jihadi degenerates, you might want to celebrate his release too.

I am so sick of Obama’s gang saying over and over and over that this kid volunteered. We have an all volunteer military. Crackheads.

Cindy Munford on June 4, 2014 at 7:07 PM

How is the fact that Bergdahl volunteered a mitigating factor for him? It actually works against him. Nobody forced him into the Army; he volunteered for it.

If he had been drafted and then deserted, he’d probably be more sympathetic — since he would have had no choice about being in the Army. But Bergdahl exercised his own free will and chose to enlist. If he had a conscientious objection to war in general, or to the Afghan war in particular, there was a very simple way to address that: don’t enlist in the Army!

The town was afraid they wouldn’t have enough space for all the Talibani terrorists who’d be coming by to thank Bergdahl for his service. (Also, not enough parking spaces for their mortars and rocket launchers).

The town was afraid they wouldn’t have enough space for all the Talibani terrorists who’d be coming by to thank Bergdahl for his service. (Also, not enough parking spaces for their mortars and rocket launchers).